Rescue Me: The Complete First Season
"Hey Tommy, it's getting slow out there, pal. All that pussy I was getting after 9/11, and now I'm nothing. People forget." - Franco Rivera (Daniel Sunjata) on why he was forced to date a hairy-faced chick DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
Timing is everything. In 2001, co-creators Denis Leary and Peter Tolan were in New Jersey filming The Job, their TV series that took a cynical look at NYC cops, when the World Trade Center collapsed. Although critically acclaimed, ABC felt that viewers just weren't ready for The Job's humanizing, bitter attitude so soon after 9/11. The show premiered at midseason and was quickly cancelled. Leary, who comes from a long line of firefighters (he lost a cousin in the Massachusetts conflagration that, until 9/11, claimed the most lives of firefighters), turned to the World Trade Center tragedy for inspiration. He and Tolan created Rescue Me, another humanizing, bitter look at a dangerous profession - this time NYC firefighters struggling to cope with post-9/11 life.
In FX's scabrously funny drama, Leary plays Tommy Gavin, a firefighter whose life has been haunted - both literally and figuratively - since the terrorist attack. He is separated from his wife Janet (Andrea Roth), who resents that all of his energy seems to be aimed at his job and his "family" in the firehouse. Tommy is still in love with Janet, but is unwilling or unable to make the necessary changes to win her back. In the meantime, he has moved into a house across the street, watching intently as his wife and kids get on with their lives. Tommy's elderly father (Charles Durning) has abandoned his mother in favor of a late-life hookers-and-drugs binge. At work, his firehouse lost four fighters on 9/11, including his cousin Jimmy (James McCaffrey), of whom only his "beer-opening finger" was found. Since then, Tommy imagines that Jimmy and other victims he's been unable to save over the years are hanging around his home, judging him. Struggling with his family woes, mental problems, and the overwhelming temptation to take up drinking again, Tommy is soon taking foolhardy - some would say suicidal - on-the-job risks.
Tommy's fellow firefighters have problems of their own. Franco Rivera (Daniel Sunjata) lives the life of a carefree bachelor, until his drug-addicted ex-girlfriend turns up with a surprise announcement. Lt. Shea (John Scurti) is suffering through a bad marriage and writes poetry to exorcise his 9/11 demons. Chief Jerry Reilly (Jack McGee) gambles on everything from football games to whether or not a cheetah can catch and antelope on a nature show (as he tells a bar patron who is amazed by the scope of his betting, "I'm a New York City fireman. My whole life's a goddamn gamble"). Sean Garrity (Steven Pasquale) is nice, but a little dim. Mike Silletti (Michael Lombardi) - a "probie" fresh from training - has to prove to his new coworkers that he deserves to be in their ranks.
The firefighters perform their share of heroic acts, but they are decidedly human. Tommy bribes his kids to get information about his wife's new boyfriend, Roger (Jay Potter). He pays his godson to infect Roger's computer with a virus and have his credit cards terminated. Bigoted Chief Reilly is accused of gay bashing when he confronts a retired fireman who not only comes out of the closet, but dares to claim that at least twenty of the firefighters who died on 9/11 were gay. The series is effective at portraying the balance between the characters' brave actions and their sordid personality traits. The members of the company are often sexist, egotistical, and callous, proving that someone can be heroic without being a saint.
Rescue Me is as filthy as a basic cable series can possibly be. Racy language that would make a sailor blush (Tommy names his quarrelsome poodle "Asshole"), sex scenes that stop just short of being soft-core, and unrepentantly adult themes - it's all here. The series also revels in scatological humor. The company closes ranks when, late in the season, the city insists on assigning a woman to their firehouse. The new firefighter, Laura (Diane Farr), insists on getting her own bathroom, and Chief Reilly grudgingly cooperates. He rebels, however, by eating the most disgusting food combinations he can think of and then leaving smelly surprises in her candle-bedecked toilet. Laura can give as good as she gets, though, setting a trap that literally catches him in the act. Juvenile, yes, but achingly funny.
The series is also filled with an appealing assortment of weirdos and the blackest of black humor. The company responds to one call in which a disgruntled tenant saves his urine in jars for twenty-four days before pouring it down the building's stairs, creating a "river of piss." Why? To prove that he's not crazy, of course! Tommy's uncle Teddy (Lenny Clarke) attempts to kill himself in Tommy's garage, but fails because he has only an eighth of a tank of gasoline in his car. The removal of an extremely obese corpse from an upper-floor apartment is also mordantly funny.
Rescue Me is excellent at spinning dramatic moments into comedic situations. When Mike saves a life for the first time by pulling an unconscious man from a burning building, it is quite a milestone in his young career. Andrew (Jimmy Burke), the guy he saved, shows up at the firehouse to thank Mike. Andrew wants to thank Mike somehow, but Mike is uncomfortable accepting his gratitude. This storyline starts off as a touching one, but become increasingly unhinged when Andrew becomes a bit too enthusiastic about wanting to express his thanks. Is Andre coming on to Mike, or is he just overly friendly? In an extremely funny scene, Mike discusses his problem with Lt. Shea:
Mike: He might wanna.you know. I think he's interested in me in that way.
Lt. Shea: I see. Well, you got two choices. One is you be honest and you tell him you don't play for that team.
Mike: Or?
Lt. Shea: Or you go back to his apartment, you set it on fire, and this time you let him burn.
Most series would have let this plotline run its course over a single episode. Rescue Me stretches the Mike/Andrew relationship to bizarrely amusing lengths, throwing in hilariously over-the-top twists and turns throughout the season.
The series is almost too adept at wringing laughs from dramatic situations, though - sometimes the purely dramatic moments fall flat. The season's final episode is filled with dramatic events, but these events aren't as persuasively effective as the series' comedic moments are funny.
In a similar vein, the fire victims who haunt Tommy - including his cousin Jimmy - tend to bring the momentum of the show to a halt. This plot device has been popular (which, in this case, is a nice word for "overused") in recent years, appearing in series as varied as Six Feet Under and Providence. Here, it just seems awkward, especially when compared to the series' otherwise tightly-written scenes. Luckily, Tommy's haunts are used more sparingly as the season progresses. The ghosts just don't add much to our understanding of Tommy, and the frequent scenes in which friends and family walk in on him talking to himself simply add to the sense of sameness.
These flaws don't sink the series - not even close. Even its weakest moments are admirable thanks to the show's talented cast. Viewers familiar with Leary only from his cigarette-fueled rants about Cindy Crawford in those early-1990s MTV ads are in for a surprise: he's an enormously appealing actor who is equally at home portraying the series' dramatic moments as he is its comic ones. Scurti is pitch-perfect as a decent guy who has seen too many indecent things in his lifetime. McGee presents viewers with the most complexly drawn mixture of narrow-mindedness and empathy since Archie Bunker. Sunjata, Lombardi, and Pasquale are terrific as the company's youngest members, even if, as a group, they give the company a GQ vibe that probably isn't found in most firehouses.
The thirteen episodes that make up the first season are divided onto three discs. The discs are housed in two slim, clear plastic keepcases - the first keepcase holds one disc while the second holds two discs. The fronts of the cases are decorated with production and publicity stills from the series. The backs of the cases include titles, basic credits, and brief synopses for each episode. The interiors of the cases and the discs themselves also include production and publicity photos. The keepcases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve. An insert touts the June 21 premiere of the new season on FX, and presents information about The Leary Firefighters Foundation, a charitable organization founded by Denis Leary. The overall design of the packaging is simple and bold, much like the series itself.
The full-motion DVD menus feature the show's theme song, "C'mon C'mon" by the Von Bondies. Viewers can play all of the disc's episodes or choose an individual one. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
